A Radio Bristol Christmas

Date: Friday, December 17, 2021

Time: 7:00 p.m.

Location: Performance Theater at the Birthplace of Country Music Museum

Tickets: $35 plus tax/fees

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**COVID-19 Policy
Most performers whose livelihoods depend on not contracting Covid-19 will currently not perform indoors, at least not in small venues where the audience is close. Since we want to continue to have Farm and Fun Time in the intimate confines of the Museum Performance Theater for recording for PBS telecast, audience members, staff, musicians, and artists in attendance will be required to show proof of vaccination or proof of negative COVID-19 test result taken within 72 hours” for entry.

Join us for a night of merriment and seasonal delight with a very special Radio Bristol Christmas at the Birthplace of Country Music Museum, hosted by Radio Bristol Program Director Kris Trueslen and his house band Bill and the Belles, with special guests The Kody Norris Show and Martha Spencer and Larry Sigmon!

A Radio Bristol Christmas will broadcast live before a studio audience from the Performance Theater at the museum and can be accessed in its entirety on WBCM Radio Bristol’s Facebook page live. You may also tune into the program on the air at 100.1 FM in the Bristol area or online at ListenRadioBristol.org. Be sure and download Radio Bristol’s free mobile app and take us with you wherever you go!

About The Kody Norris Show

Call it retro, hillbilly, bluegrass or rockabilly, The Kody Norris Show strives for something Kody calls “dern good entertainment.” Deeply rooted in North American folk music, Norris has crafted a performance that harkens back and tips a hat to the traditions created by Bill Monroe, Jimmy Martin’s showmanship, The Stanley Brothers’ harmonies, performances of The Grand Ole Opry, and a bit of vaudeville. Top notch picking is center stage, but humor and visual flash are part of the entertaining package. Always clad in colorful, tailored suits adorned with rhinestones, ties, classic hats and ornate boots, the band earns its moniker as a “show.” The brand is traditional, clean cut, acoustic and always entertaining.

The band’s album When I Get The Money Made, was named 2017 Bluegrass Album of the Year by the National Traditional Country Music Association. The Kody Norris Show was honored with seven nominations in the 2018 SPBGMA Awards in Nashville.

About Martha Spencer & Larry Sigmon

Larry Sigmon was born in Callaway, Virginia. His father, Lewis Eldridge Sigmon, was a locally beloved banjo and fiddle player. Larry taught himself harmonica as a child, and then moved to guitar, learning to play by backing up his father. When he took up the banjo at fifteen, it became his main instrument, and he developed a signature hard-driving, rhythmic style. Larry’s first band was the Sugar Hill Ramblers, a six-piece group that performed old time tunes and old country numbers for six years. He went on to play stints with Carl Scott and Richard Bowman until the late 1980s, when he met bassist Barbara Poole at a local fiddlers’ convention.

Larry and Barbara began performing together, winning countless ribbons in banjo, bass, and folk song competitions and playing at festivals, dances, and other concert venues. Their sound was so distinctive with just the banjo, bass, and Larry’s distinct singing, they became known as the “Unique Sound,” and gained a dedicated local following, particularly among flatfoot dancers. Larry and Barbara drew upon a repertoire of old time and bluegrass songs from Charlie Poole to Jimmy Martin and Bill Monroe, making songs their own through Larry’s strong vocals and Barbara’s double-slap bass. Throughout their eighteen-year career, the duo performed at the Carter Family Fold, the Grand Ole Opry, and mountain music festivals throughout the South, becoming one of the most popular bands in the Blue Ridge Mountains until Barbara passed away in 2008 after a long struggle with cancer. Larry had quit performing until old-time musician and advocate Martha Spencer arrived to interview him for her online documentary project, Mountain Music Magazine. Like Larry, Martha was raised in a musical family, the daughter of acclaimed old time musicians Thornton and Emily Spencer and a longtime member of their family group, the Whitetop Mountain Band. During their interview, Martha encouraged Larry to play some tunes, joining him on bass and playing Barbara’s signature spirited double-slap style. The two took to each other immediately, and the “Unique Sound” was reborn.